The forum will showcase 25 projects from the Netherlands, Australia, China, Brazil, the U.K., Lebanon, France and the U.S..

Marit van den Elshout, head of industry and CineMart, said the upcoming edition will showcase “great discoveries with high potential (…), five debut feature films, ready for the international market and to be attached to financiers.”

“We are looking forward to another great edition of CineMart, supporting the future of storytelling by nurturing the work of all these great filmmakers, both emerging and established,” added Elshout.

The topicality of “We Are Young. We Are Strong.” is hard to miss, which is a key reason why this worthy but over-obvious fictionalization of xenophobic riots in 1992 Germany will hit a nerve. Burhan Qurbani’s mostly black-and-white sophomore feature (after “Shahada”) is a by-the-book re-creation of the buildup to two nights of violent unrest in the eastern port city of Rostock, when Vietnamese immigrants became the target of disaffected residents unhappy with their own status in a recently unified Germany. Given current tensions with “the other in our midst,” the pic will undoubtedly gain traction at home following a late January opening. Euro screens may also beckon.

Like most areas of the former East Germany, Rostock suffered from a depressed economy and general malaise following the fall of the Berlin Wall, exacerbated by a not-unwarranted sense of alienation from the West. Qurbani’s strong suit is the way he captures the zeitgeist,

The collaboration will start with the English-language sci-fi thriller “SUM1,” directed by Christian Pasquariello. Iwan Rheon (“Game of Thrones,” “Misfits,” “The Liberator”) will be starring in the lead role as a young soldier, placed on a desolate watchtower high above a forest on a 100-day assignment. His mission is to defend the outpost against eerie, powerful alien creatures in a strange world.

Rome – The Rome Film Festival, in its enth reconfiguration, has unveiled a decidedly disparate lineup for its ninth edition with a more marked populist accent comprising comedies and genre pics along with promising auteur fare – including 24 world preems – all in artistic director Marco Mueller’s self-described “suitably schizophrenic” signature style.

Contending with impediments dictated by Italian politics and the economy, Mueller in little over three months has assembled an attractive, if less abundant, mix of goods made of 51 pics innovatively divided in five sections: competition, out-of-competition, gala, mondo genre, and Italian perspectives.

The competition sees world bows of Russian auteur Aleksey Fedorchenko’s “Angels Of Revolution,” which had been announced; and also Italo helmer Claudio Noce’s Alps-set thriller “The Ice Forest,” (pictured) marking Emir Kusturica’s first lead thesping role; German helmer Christoph Hochhausler “The Lies of the Victors,” a thriller about the dark underbelly of contempo politics in

Exclusive: Munich based Beta Cinema has arrived in Cannes with new pick-ups that could provoke heated debate.

Beta is launching We Are Young, We Are Strong by young Afghan-German director Burhan Qurbani in the Cannes Marché. The film explores the driving forces of xenophobia during the violent riots of 1992 in freshly reunited Germany

Based on historical facts and currently in post-production, it recounts the violent xenophobic riots in Rostock in 1992 from the perspectives of three different characters: a Vietnamese woman settled in Germany, a young hooligan involved in the night’s riots and his father, a local politician, trapped in the dilemma of advancing his career or standing up for his ideals.

Speaking exclusively to ScreenDaily ahead of the world premiere of The Physician in Berlin on Monday evening, Bauer explained: “We have discussed this with Noah Gordon and would have access [to the properties].”

“But we won’t have this discussion before the film has reached 3m admissions in Germany and Spain,” said Bauer, who is currently reading Shaman for the seventh time.

Moreover, the producers would have freedom in casting since Shaman is set in the 19th century some 800 years after the events in The Physician.

Hofmann revealed that, as part of the film’s financing from broadcaster Ard Degeto, a longer

A desultory dishwasher with a striking resemblance to a colleague’s imprisoned husband assumes his identity in Tayfun Pirselimoglu’s absorbing but overextended “I’m Not Him.” Sticking to the helmer’s resolutely minimal style (“Haze,” “Hair”), which emphasizes the sullen isolation of modern man, the pic features two performances whose strength goes some way toward staunching the effect of Pirselimoglu’s ultra-slow, almost deadening sequences. Viewers already won over to new Turkish cinema’s deliberate pacing will gather around, making “I’m Not Him” a fest item with appeal to a pre-prepared core audience.

With his French bulldog features locked in an eternally impassive scowl, Ercan Kesal (“Mold” and several Nuri Bilge Ceylan pics) is the ideal vessel to portray Nihat, a solitary kitchen hand in a hospital cafeteria. Work buddies get him to join their evening excursion with a roadside prostitute, but it’s Nihat who gets nabbed when the law shows up.

The Pune International Film Festival 2011 will be held from 6 to 13 January 2011. Silent Souls / Ovsyanki directed by Aleksei Fedorchenko of Russia, a film competing in World Cinema section will be the opening film of the festival.

The Government of Maharashtra will present the “Prabhat” Best International Film award comprising of $20,000 and “Prabhat” Best International Film Director comprising of $10,000.

The other awards in the festival are: Government of Maharashtra’s – “Sant Tukaram” Best International Marathi Film (Rs 5Lac), Akhil Bhartiya Chitrapat Maha Mandal Best Marathi Film Director (Rs.25,000), Akhil Bhartiya Chitrapat Maha Mandal – Best Marathi Film Actor( Rs.25,000) and Akhil Bhartiya Chitrapat Maha Mandal – Best screenplay Rs.25,000.

Life Time Achievement Awards will also be presented for outstanding contribution to Indian cinema.

For Whistling Woods International, Student Competition, the awards are: Best Film ($ 2000), Best Director ($ 1000) and Best Screen Play (Us $ 1000). There is a special award for student cinematographers

Chicago – The 2010 46th Annual Chicago International Film Festival and Michael Kutza, Founder and Artistic Director, announced the competition award winners at a ceremony at the Pump Room in Chicago on October 16th. The Gold Hugo for Best Film went to “How I Ended the Summer,” from Russia.

Kutza made the announcements, along with Mimi Plauché, Head of Programming, and Associate Programmers Joel Hoglund and Penny Bartlett. The Pump Room is the legendary restaurant inside the Ambassador East Hotel in Chicago. The Festival’s highest honor is the Gold Hugo, named for the mythical God of Discovery.

International Feature Film Competition

’How I Ended The Summer’

Photo Credit: Chicago International Film Festival

The Gold Hugo for Best Film: “How I Ended the Summer” (Russia), directed by Aleksei Popogrebsky

Cologne, Germany -- The next generation of German directors likes a bit of rough.

Nominations, announced today, for the First Steps Award for debut films, includes unflinching looks at drug abuse, prison violence and religious unrest.

Philip Koch's "Picco," which debuted in Cannes and is being sold by France's Rezo Films, is a harrowing tale of a juvenile delinquent systematically tortured and killed by his cellmates in a German prison. Oliver Kienle's "Bis aufs Blut" follows two friends and drug dealers who survive the hell of youth prison and emerge ready to make one final deal. And Burhan Qurbani's "Shahada," a competition entry at the Berlin Festival this year, sets the religious ferment of Germany's Muslim community against the background of a hostile, often violent, Berlin.

The other two nominees for First Step's feature length film prize provide some relief: Sebastian Stern's "Die Hummel" (Bumblebee) is

Baumbach's comedy "Greenberg" starring Ben Stiller as a New Yorker house sitting for his brother in Los Angeles, will have its world premiere in Berlin as will Vinterberg's latest, "Submario," a Danish drama that sees the director of "The Celebration" returning to the treacherous landscape of familial relationships.

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